Dinosaurs are a diverse group of reptiles that first appeared during the Triassic period, between 243 and 233.23 million years ago. They became the dominant terrestrial vertebrates after the Triassic–Jurassic extinction event 201.3 million years ago, and their dominance continued throughout the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods. The fossil record demonstrates that birds are modern feathered dinosaurs, having evolved from earlier theropods during the Late Jurassic. Birds were therefore the only dinosaur lineage to survive the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event approximately 66 million years ago, and constitute the only known living dinosaurs.
This list of dinosaurs is a comprehensive listing of all genera that have ever been considered to be non-avialan dinosaurs, but also includes some dinosaurs of disputed status as non-avian, as well as purely vernacular terms.
The list includes all commonly accepted genera, but also genera that are now considered invalid, doubtful (nomen dubium), or were not formally published (nomen nudum), as well as junior synonyms and genera that are no longer considered dinosaurs. Many listed names have been reclassified as everything from true birds to crocodilians to petrified wood. The list contains 1,863 names, of which approximately 1,424 are considered either valid dinosaur genera or nomina dubia.
Scope and terminology
There is no official, canonical list of all non-avian dinosaur genera. The closest is the Dinosaur Genera List, compiled by biological nomenclature expert George Olshevsky, which was first published online in 1995 and was regularly updated until June 2021.[1][2] The most authoritative general source in the field is the second (2004) edition of The Dinosauria. The vast majority of names listed below are sourced to Olshevsky's list, and all subjective determinations (such as junior synonymy or non-dinosaurian status) are based on The Dinosauria, except where they conflict with primary literature. These exceptions are noted.
Junior synonym: A name which describes the same taxon as a previously published name. If two or more genera are formally designated and the type specimens are later assigned to the same genus, the first to be published (in chronological order) is the senior synonym, and all other instances are junior synonyms. Senior synonyms are generally used, except by special decision of the ICZN (see Tyrannosaurus), but junior synonyms cannot be used again for a different genus, even if deprecated. Junior synonymy is often subjective, unless the genera described were both based on the same type specimen.
Nomen nudum (Latin for "naked name"): A name that has appeared in print but has not yet been formally published by the standards of the ICZN. Nomina nuda (the plural form) are invalid, and are therefore not italicized as a proper generic name would be. If the name is later formally published, that name is no longer a nomen nudum and will be italicized on this list. Often, the formally published name will differ from any nomina nuda that describe the same specimen.
Nomen oblitum (Latin for "forgotten name"): A name that has not been used in the scientific community for more than fifty years after its original proposal.
Nomen manuscriptum (Latin for "manuscript name"): A name that appears in manuscript of a formal publication that has no scientific backing.
Preoccupied name: A name that is formally published, but which has already been used for another taxon. This second use is invalid (as are all subsequent uses) and the name must be replaced. Preoccupied names are not valid generic names.
Nomen dubium (Latin for "dubious name"): A name describing a fossil with no unique diagnostic features. As this can be an extremely subjective and controversial designation (see Hadrosaurus), no genera should be marked as such on this list.
Most uncited genus names are taken from Olshevsky's "Dinosaur Genera List".[1] Non-dinosaur dinosauromorphs and non-avebrevicaudan avialans are also listed by Olshevsky, but are omitted from this list as they are not considered "non-avian dinosaurs" in most published sources.
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^Dieudonné, Paul-Emile; Becerra, Marcos Gabriel; Zanesco, Tábata; Tortosa, Thierry; Cruzado-Caballero, Penélope; Stein, Koen; Torcida Fernández-Baldor, Fidel (2026-02-01). "Foskeia pelendonum, a new rhabdodontomorph from the Lower Cretaceous of Salas de los Infantes (Burgos Province, Spain), and a new phylogeny of ornithischian dinosaurs". Papers in Palaeontology. 12 (1) e70057. Bibcode:2026PPal...1270057D. doi:10.1002/spp2.70057. ISSN2056-2799.
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^Ryan, M.J.; Micucci, L.; Rizo, H.; Sullivan, C.; Lee, Y.-N.; Evans, D.C. (2023). "New Late Cretaceous leptoceratopsid (Dinosauria: Ceratopsia) from the Oldman Formation (Campanian) of Alberta, Canada". In Lee, Y.-N. (ed.). Windows into Sauropsid and Synapsid Evolution: Essays in Honor of Prof. Louis L. Jacobs. Seoul: Dinosaur Science Center Press. pp. 151–165. ISBN 978-89-5708-358-1.
^Agnolín FL, Cerroni MA, Scanferla A, Goswami A, Paulina-Carabajal A, Halliday T, Cuff AR, Reuil S (2022). "First definitive abelisaurid theropod from the Late Cretaceous of Northwestern Argentina". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 41 (4) e2002348. doi:10.1080/02724634.2021.2002348. S2CID246766133.
^Rotatori, F. M.; Ferrari, L.; Sequero, C.; Camilo, B.; Mateus, O.; Moreno-Azanza, M. (2024). "An unexpected early-diverging iguanodontian dinosaur (Ornithischia, Ornithopoda) from the Upper Jurassic of Portugal". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 43 (4). e2310066. doi:10.1080/02724634.2024.2310066.
^Filippi, Leonardo S.; Juárez Valieri, Rubén D.; Gallina, Pablo A.; Méndez, Ariel H.; Gianechini, Federico A.; Garrido, Alberto C. (2023). "A rebbachisaurid-mimicking titanosaur and evidence of a Late Cretaceous faunal disturbance event in South-West Gondwana". Cretaceous Research. 154 105754. doi:10.1016/j.cretres.2023.105754. ISSN0195-6671.
^Forster CA, de Klerk WJ, Poole KE, Chinsamy-Turan A, Roberts EM, Ross CF (2022). "Iyuku raathi, a new iguanodontian dinosaur from the Early Cretaceous Kirkwood Formation, South Africa". The Anatomical Record. 306 (7): 1762–1803. doi:10.1002/ar.25038. PMID35860957. S2CID250730794.
^Ren, X.-X.; Wang, X.-R.; Ji, Y.-N.; Guo, Z.; Ji, Q. (2024). "The first mamenchisaurid from the Upper Jurassic Dongxing Formation of Guangxi, southernmost China". Historical Biology: An International Journal of Paleobiology. 37 (3): 465–478. doi:10.1080/08912963.2024.2309287.
^Voris, Jared T.; Zelenitsky, Darla K.; Kobayashi, Yoshitsugu; Modesto, Sean P.; Therrien, François; Tsutsumi, Hiroki; Chinzorig, Tsogtbaatar; Tsogtbaatar, Khishigjav (2025-06-11). "A new Mongolian tyrannosauroid and the evolution of Eutyrannosauria". Nature. 642 (8069): 973–979. Bibcode:2025Natur.642..973V. doi:10.1038/s41586-025-08964-6. ISSN0028-0836. PMID40500434.
^Averianov AO, Lopatin AV (2022). "The second taxon of alvarezsaurid theropod dinosaurs from the Late Cretaceous Khulsan locality in Gobi Desert, Mongolia". Historical Biology: An International Journal of Paleobiology. 34 (11): 2125–2136. Bibcode:2022HBio...34.2125A. doi:10.1080/08912963.2021.2000976. S2CID244421277.
^Magyar, J.; Ősi, A.; Csiki-Sava, Z.; Budai, S.; Botfalvai, G. (2026). "New early Maastrichtian 'duck-billed' dinosaur from Hațeg Basin (Densuș-Ciula Formation, Romania) documents an endemic clade of non-hadrosaurid hadrosauroids in the south-eastern Late Cretaceous European Archipelago". Journal of Systematic Palaeontology. 24 2607800. Bibcode:2026JSPal..2407800M. doi:10.1080/14772019.2025.2607800.
^Iori, F.V.; de Araújo-Júnior, H.I.; Simionato Tavares, S.A.; da Silva Marinho, T.; Martinelli, A.G. (2021). "New theropod dinosaur from the late Cretaceous of Brazil improves abelisaurid diversity". Journal of South American Earth Sciences. 112 103551. Bibcode:2021JSAES.11203551I. doi:10.1016/j.jsames.2021.103551. ISSN0895-9811. S2CID239682640.
^Prieto-Márquez A, Wagner JR (2022). "A new 'duck-billed' dinosaur (Ornithischia: Hadrosauridae) from the upper Campanian of Texas points to a greater diversity of early hadrosaurid offshoots". Cretaceous Research. 143 105416. 105416. doi:10.1016/j.cretres.2022.105416. S2CID253470207.
^Griffin, Christopher T.; Wynd, Brenen M.; Munyikwa, Darlington; Broderick, Tim J.; Zondo, Michel; Tolan, Stephen; Langer, Max C.; Nesbitt, Sterling J.; Taruvinga, Hazel R. (2022-08-31). "Africa's oldest dinosaurs reveal early suppression of dinosaur distribution". Nature. 609 (7926): 313–319. Bibcode:2022Natur.609..313G. doi:10.1038/s41586-022-05133-x. ISSN0028-0836. PMID36045297. S2CID251977824.
^Rolando MA, Garcia Marsà JA, Agnolín FL, Motta MJ, Rodazilla S, Novas FE (2022). "The sauropod record of Salitral Ojo del Agua: An Upper Cretaceous (Allen Formation) fossiliferous locality from northern Patagonia, Argentina". Cretaceous Research. 129 105029. Bibcode:2022CrRes.12905029R. doi:10.1016/j.cretres.2021.105029. ISSN0195-6671. S2CID240577726.
^Ji S, Zhang P (2022). "First new genus and species of basal iguanodontian dinosaur (Ornithischia: Ornithopoda) from southern China". Acta Geoscientica Sinica. 43 (1): 1–10. doi:10.3975/cagsb.2021.090701.
^Horner, J. R.; Goodwin, M. B.; Evans, D. C. (2023). "A new pachycephalosaurid from the Hell Creek Formation, Garfield County, Montana, U.S.A.". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 42 (4). e2190369. doi:10.1080/02724634.2023.2190369. S2CID258154892.
^Srivastava, Simba; Nesbitt, Sterling J. (2026-04-14). "A new taxon of saurischian dinosaur from the Coelophysis Quarry of New Mexico, USA (Triassic: latest Norian or Rhaetian) highlights herrerasaurian diversity in the latest Triassic". Papers in Palaeontology. 12 (2) e70069. doi:10.1002/spp2.70069. ISSN2056-2799.
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^Lerzo, Lucas Nicolás; Gallina, Pablo Ariel; Canale, Juan Ignacio; Otero, Alejandro; Carballido, José Luis; Apesteguía, Sebastián; Makovicky, Peter Juraj (2024-01-03). "The last of the oldies: a basal rebbachisaurid (Sauropoda, Diplodocoidea) from the early Late Cretaceous (Cenomanian–Turonian) of Patagonia, Argentina". Historical Biology. 37 (2): 208–233. doi:10.1080/08912963.2023.2297914. ISSN0891-2963.
^Dalman, S.G.; Lucas, S.G.; Jasinski, S.E.; Longrich, N.R. (2022). "Sierraceratops turneri, a new chasmosaurine ceratopsid from the Hall Lake Formation (Upper Cretaceous) of south-central New Mexico". Cretaceous Research. 130 105034. Bibcode:2022CrRes.13005034D. doi:10.1016/j.cretres.2021.105034. S2CID244210664.
^Longrich, Nicholas R.; Pereda-Suberbiola, Xabier; Bardet, Nathalie; Jalil, Nour-Eddine (2025-05-28). "A new hadrosaurid dinosaur from the late Maastrichtian Phosphates of Morocco provides evidence for an African radiation of lambeosaurines". Gondwana Research. 145 (in press): 142–151. Bibcode:2025GondR.145..142L. doi:10.1016/j.gr.2025.05.006.
^Pereira, P. V. L. G. C.; Bandeira, K. L. N.; Vidal, L. S.; Ribeiro, T. B.; Candeiro, C. R. A.; Bergqvist, L. P. (2024). "A new sauropod species from north-western Brazil: biomechanics and the radiation of Titanosauria (Sauropoda: Somphospondyli)". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. 202 (4) zlae054. doi:10.1093/zoolinnean/zlae054.
^Soto, M.; Carballido, J. L.; Langer, M. C.; Silva, J. C. G. Junior; Montenegro, F.; Perea, D. (2024). "Phylogenetic relationships of a new titanosaur (Dinosauria, Sauropoda) from the Upper Cretaceous of Uruguay". Cretaceous Research. 160 105894. 105894. Bibcode:2024CrRes.16005894S. doi:10.1016/j.cretres.2024.105894.
^Jia, Lei; Li, Ning; Dong, Liyang; Shi, Jianru; Kang, Zhishuai; Wang, Suozhu; Xu, Shichao; You, Hailu (2024-01-31). "A new stegosaur from the late Early Cretaceous of Zuoyun, Shanxi Province, China". Historical Biology. 37 (2): 420–429. doi:10.1080/08912963.2024.2308214. ISSN0891-2963.
^Zhang, Xiao-Qin; Wang, Ya-Ming; Wang, Zhen-Ji; Wang, Yan-Chao; Wang, Tao; Wang, Guo-Fu; Zou, Yi; Dong, Qi-Xing; Su, Xing; Jiang, Hua; Wang, Yan-Jun; You, Hai-Lu (2026-02-03). "The first turiasaurian sauropod (Dinosauria: Eusauropoda) from East Asia". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. 206 (2) zlaf201. doi:10.1093/zoolinnean/zlaf201. ISSN0024-4082.
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